Spool holder assembly



P 1969 H-. w. FUHRIMAN Y 3,464,648

SPOOL HOLDER ASSEMBLY Filed May 28, 1968 United States Patent M US. Cl.242-139 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A stackable lazy-Susan traystorage means having rotatable trays disposed thereon. The apparatusincludes a base pedestal having a vertically disclosed center post and aplurality of vertically mounted bearing support posts equally spacedcircumferentially on the base pedestal. The storage means is providedwith a multiplicity of storage trays journaled on the center post of thebase pedestal and carried by the bearing support posts. Each of thetrays may also be provided with a plurality of bearing support posts toprovide means by which successive trays may be carried thereby.Therefore, any number of trays may be stacked one upon the other toprovide storage means.

Background of the invention Field of the invention Description of theprior art Lazy-Susans formerly known in the art generally comprise arevolving tray carried by a central bearing member which is mounted to apedestal base. These may also be provided with a plurality of trays onemounted above a preceding tray on a bearing member mounted upon acentral post. In either type of lazy-Susan structure the trays aregenerally not removable. Therefore, condiments or goods sotred upon theseveral trays can only be removed from the trays in place.

The trays, being suspended on a central bearing member, tend to becomeunevenly balanced on the bearing member and tend to bind upon the post,thus making it diflicult for them to revolve on the bearing whencondiments or goods are not evenly distributed on the tray. It is forthis reason that the diameter of a given tray is limited.

Summary of the invention Accordingly, it is an extremely importantobject of the present invention to provide in a lazy-Susan apparatus,bearing means equally spaced outwardly from the centermost portion ofthe lazy-Susan operable to support a tray of any diameter. In thisconnection, it is an important aim of the invention to provide mechanismfor positively maintaining equal support for the tray of the lazy-Susanregardless of loading upon the tray, and to provide means whereby thetray may be revolved upon support means without binding. A furtherobject of the instant invention is to provide in a lazy-Susan apparatusmeans carrying any number of lazy-Susan trays one upon another in whichthe trays are individually removable from the lazy-Susan.

Broadly and in one aspect, the apparatus of the instant inventioncomprises a pedestal base portion having a guidepost in the centermostportion of the base and a plurality of vertically mounted bearingsupport means equally spaced circumferentially on the pedestal baseoperable to support lazy-Susan trays. Similar bearing support posts mayalso be provided and disposed on trays of the lazy- 3,464,648 PatentedSept. 2, 1969 Susan and hence, provide means by which a plurality oftrays may be stacked one upon another. Each of the trays is providedwith a hole in the centermost portion thereof therby providing means bywhich the trays may be journaled on the centermost guidepost.

And another aspect of the present invention a plurality of storage binsperpendicularly mounted to the pedestal base and to the several trays ofthe lazy-Susan may be provided for the storage of spools of threadcommonly used for sewing.

Brief description of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view ofan apparatus embodying the concept and principles of the instantinvention and showing a plurality of trays mounted one upon another thetrays being cross-sectioned to that bearing support means may be seen;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary view to a larger scale of a bearing supportpost of this invention;

FIGURE 3 is an isometric view taken from the lower underportion of atray or disc of the present invention.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring now to the drawings,the preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown to advantageas a spool and bobbin holder 10 in FIGURE 1. It is to be understood thatthe holder 10 may comprise any of a variety of lazy-Susan type holdersfunctionally similar to lazy-Susans known in the art such as dish ortray discs. The holder 10 is provided with a pedestal base portion 11having a guidepost 12 suitably mounted in the centermost portion of base11. A plurality of bearing supports 13, more than two in number areequally spaced circumferentially on the base 11 near its terminal edge.Supports 13 are perpendicularly mounted in the base 11 and are eachprovided with a substantially non-frictional bearing portion 14 at theirrespective uppermost terminal ends. The bearing portions 14 may comprisea polished portion of the wood, metal or other material which may havebeen selected for the supports 13, and may be pointed to reduce thefrictional area when the respective bearing portions 14 are inengagement with a storage tray 15 as hereinafter later described. Inorder to make clear the understanding of bearing portions 14, a cap 16which issues into a pointed rise portion at its uppermost terminal endat the area of intended engagement with a storage tray 15 is shown toadvantage in FIGURE 2. The cap 16 may be suitably fastened to thesupport 14. In practice it has been found that coatings of commonlyknown lubricants and silicons are also suitable to provide asubstantially non-fictional surface, and particularly so when the areaof engagement of bearing portion 14 is reduced such as by pointing theportion 14.

A multiplicity of storage pins 17 may be perpendicularly mounted in base11 to provide storage holders for spools 18 of thread commonly used forsewing. The pins 17, when concentrically annularly spaced about the base11, provides means for separately storing a multiplicity of individualspools '18 which be may easily observed and selected without therequirement of removing them or the trays 15. It should be understoodthat bearing supports 13 may also be employed to store spools 18. Thepins 16 may be of a substantially lesser length than bearing supports 13in order to facilitate the removal of spools and bobbins stored thereonwithout the requirement of first removing a storage tray 15 suspended onbearing supports 13 above base 11 as hereinafter later described. It hasbeen found in practice that pins 17 may also be of a substantiallylesser length than the height of the spool 18 stored thereon tofacilitate removal of the spool and at the same time provide adequatestorage holding means for the individual spool 18, rather than as shown3 in FIGURE 1. It should be emphasized that to practice other teachingsof this invention the base 11 may have the configuration of a commonlyknown dish or the like not including pins 17 disposed thereon. That isto say that elements of this invention have utility apart from theparticular combinations here shown and described.

A typical storage tray 15 is shown to advantage in FIGURES 1 and 3. Aswill become apparent from the description following, any number of trays15, one tray suspended upon a preceding tray, may be employed inconnection with this invention. The tray 15 shown in FIGURE 1 is cut toillustrate the manner of engagement of tray 15 with hearing supports 13,wherein two supports 13 may be observed, while a third support 13 ishidden by the tray 15 as shown. The under portion 19 of tray 15 may bepolished or coated with a commonly known lubricant or silicone materialto provide a substantially non-frictional surface when in engagementwith bearing portion 14 of supports 13 in base 11. The under portion 19of tray 15 is shown with a race 20 in FIGURE 3. The race 20 may comprisea polished or coated portion in the under portion 19, thereby providinga substantially non-frictional surface coincident with the bearingportion 14 of supports 13. The tray 15 is journaled on perpendicularpost 12 and is carried by supports 13. Therefore, trays 15 may berotated on the post 12 and on the supports 13.

The trays 15 are provided with a plurality of bearing supports 21, morethan two in number, which are circumferential equally spaced andperpendicularly mounted in trays 15. Preferably, the supports 21 arespaced inwardly with respect to the centermost portion of the tray 15from the outer peripheral terminal edge of the tray 15 so as to coincidewith a race 20 of a succeeding tray 15 or a race in a bobbin storagetray 22 hereinafter later described. Bearing supports 21 are similar tosupports 13 and include a bearing portion 23 similar to that hereinabovemore fully described for bearing portion 14.

A multiplicity of storage pins 24 similar to pins 17 may beperpendicularly mounted in trays 15 to provide storage holders forspools such as shown in 19. The pins 24 are annularly and concentricallyspaced on the trays 15. Since the pins 17 and pins 24 are identical, thedescription of pins 17 shall suffice for pins 24 as well.

A bobbin storage tray as shown generally at 22 may be journaled on post12 and be carried by supports 21 in the manner hereinbefore set out inthe description of trays 15. The tray 22 differs from the tray 15 onlyin size and the fact that supports such as 13 on base 11 50 and supports21 on trays 15 may not be required unless more than one tray 22 isemployed in a given structure. That is to say that in the event aplurality of trays 22 are used in a given lazy-Susan or a spool andbobbin holder 10, then and in that event the trays 22 may be providedwith bearing supports similar to supports 13 and 21. Similarly, the tray22 may be provided with a multiplicty of pins 25 perpendicularly mountedand concentrically annularly spaced on tray 22 to provide storage meansfor bobbins such as shown at 26. It is, of course, understood that pins25 may also be employed to store spools such as shown at 18. The pins 25are identical to pins 17 and 25 earlier described.

I claim:

. 1. A lazy-Susan storage means, said means comprismg:

a pedestal base;

a guidepost perpendicularly disposed and mounted in the centermostportion of said pedestal base;

a plurality of bearing support posts perpendicularly mounted in saidpedestal base said bearing support posts being equally spaced outwardlyfrom the centermost portion of said pedestal base and from each other;

a tray portion journaled for rotation on said guidepost and carried bysaid bearing support posts.

-2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said bearing support posts includea polished terminal end portion issuing upwardly to a point operable toprovide a substantially non-frictional bearing portion on said hearingsupport posts.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said tray portion includes aplurality of bearing support posts perpendicularly mounted in said tray,said bearing support posts being equally outwardly from the centermostportion of said tray and from each other.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 including a plurality of tray portions, saidtray portions being journaled for r0- tation on said guidepost andcarried by said bearing support posts of a preceding portion.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 including a plurality of spool storage pinsperpendicularly mounted in said base pedestal and a plurality of spoolstorage pins perpendicularly mounted in said trays.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 634,000 10/1899 Hromas 242l 39760,365 5/1904 Yates 242139 1,037,148 8/1912 Karnp et a1 2421391,244,373 10/1917 Rice 108142 2,330,702 9/1943 Goldschmidt 242-139LEONARD D. CHRISTIAN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

